Images of our Hispanic HeritageNew Poetry and Prints from the City of San Juan in 2001
Featuring "La Ciudad Infinita: Versiones de San Juan"

September 14 - November 3, 2001
Second Floor Gallery
Curated by William J. Dane

From September 14 through November 3rd, 2001, The Newark Public Library has installed a cultural exhibition in a gallery at 5 Washington Street in Downtown Newark. The show is entitled Images of Our Hispanic Heritage in Original Prints and Posters and is selected from the graphic arts and literature in the Special Collections of the Library.

El sembrador de San Juan
by Nick Quijano

Featured is a deluxe portfolio of new poetry and original prints in a 2001 gift from the City of San Juan which is entitled La Ciudad Infinita: Versions de San Juan. The materials on display in many of the cases around the Library’s atrium are from this notable portfolio which combines poetic texts and original lithographic prints in color by thirty highly creative citizens of the Puerto Rican community. The Newark Public Library is most grateful to the donors, namely The City of San Juan and Sila Calderon, former Mayor of the City and now Governor of Puerto Rico, for arranging for this remarkable gift.

El 29 by Rafael Tufiño

The San Juan 2000 Committee commissioned San Juan artists and poets in 1999 to contribute their work for the portfolio project. “This is the best way to honor the spirit of the city and to celebrate our “Puerto Ricanness,?Calderon said. “This was an effort at capturing the soul of Puerto Rico at the end of one century and the start of another.? The edition was limited to 300 copies with only one hundred of these made available to museums and libraries throughout the world. The Newark Public Library was included because of its long interest in the history, culture, arts and humanities of the wider Hispanic community and our Puerto Rican heritage in particular. It is hoped that the poems and lithographic prints will be a source of new pleasure and information for visitors to The Newark Public Library during this time of celebration.

El destino en el
sombrero II by Rafael Trelles

In addition to the stunning gift from Puerto Rico, the Hispanic graphic celebration also includes works by artists with close New Jersey associations. These include original limited edition prints by Hugo Xavier Bastidas who is on the faculty of the New Jersey City University in Jersey City and Gloria Rodrigues whose print
Ex Voto shows embossing with many colors including gray, orange, black, gold and red. Of timely and historic interest is
7 City Subway by Maria Mujardes. This color lithograph with a deep dark background shows four views of the 1954 Newark Subway cars, which were retired from service on August 27th of this year. These handsome prints were a recent gift to The Library from The Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and paper in New Brunswick.

Musee de arte de Puerto Rico

Other recent publications highlight the work of Alicea, Jose Rosa, and Antonio Martorell’s illustrations of poems by F. Manrique Cabrera. Notice is given to the inaugural exhibition of the splendid new Museum of the Art of Puerto Rico in a beautifully restored building with a park setting near the Condado section of San Juan. This grand new facility is the culmination of years of planning and fundraising to present a perfect setting for exhibitions of visual arts originating or of interest to permanent residents and casual visitors to Puerto Rico.

The displays were curated by William J. Dane, Special Collections Division of The Library and is open free of charge to all visitors during regular Library hours which are Mondays and Fridays from 9a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For additional information, please call 973-733-7745.